


Moments

by nhasablog



Category: Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe - Benjamin Alire Sáenz
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Neck Kissing, Tickle Fights, Tickling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-11
Updated: 2017-02-11
Packaged: 2018-09-23 15:17:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9663251
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nhasablog/pseuds/nhasablog
Summary: A collection of moments between Ari and Dante that aren’t necessarily related. All from Ari and Dante sitting in the kitchen in the middle of the night to them watching the stars to Dante’s dad walking in on them.





	

Ari didn’t throw the word ‘perfect’ around a lot, but he couldn’t find a different way to describe that night. The air was still, the sky filled with stars, and Dante and Legs were both in such a good mood that Ari forgot all about his lousy day at work.

Dante had taken one look at him when they’d met up after Ari’s shift before they both were steering for Ari’s home to pick up Legs. Ari liked that he didn’t even need to tell Dante some things. He just knew.

Now, a while later, they were sitting in the back of Ari’s parked truck with a blanket on their legs. The dog was lying by their feet, occasionally lifting her head to look at them for no particular reason. Ari would like to think she felt content.

“Do you think we’re alone in this universe?” Dante asked, breaking the silence that had taken over.

Ari hummed. “Probably not. I mean, we _can’t_ be, can we?”

“Guess not. It’d be incredibly lonely if we were.”

“I’d be kind of worried if that was the case. I’d be waiting for whatever killed everything else to hit us too.”

“No, but what if we literally were the only things to ever exist in the universe?” Dante said. “Nothing got killed, it just was never alive.”

“That’s impossible, Dante.”

“You never know. And hey.” Dante poked him in the side. “Stop dismissing my hypothetical scenarios.”

Ari batted his hand away. “And you stop poking me.”

“Why, are you ticklish?”

“You know I am,” Ari replied, ignoring his burning face. He knew from experience that denying it was even worse than confessing. “Now stop bringing up such vast subjects and tell me about your day.”

“Well,” Dante started, his arm sneaking around Ari’s waist to pull him closer. “I wouldn’t say it’s been useless, but I’m not sure I’ve done anything productive.”

“When are you ever productive?”

Dante’s fingers wiggled against his lower side. “Don’t be a smartass.”

Ari laughed. “Sorry. Continue. And stop tickling me.”

“Never.” Ari could hear his grin. Dante had never been good at keeping his emotions out of his voice. “Anyway, I hate it when you work all day. It’s boring.”

“What were you doing before you got to know me?”

“I’m not even sure anymore,” Dante said, shaking his head. “Do you really have to work tomorrow?”

“All day, just like today.”

“But why?”

Ari shrugged. “Money.”

“Screw that. We can move out here. We don’t need to pay rent if we live in the desert.”

“That’d be pretty nice actually. How would we get food though?”

“We’d figure something out.” Dante leaned into him, pressing a quick kiss to his jawline. “In the meantime I think I’ll tickle you until you agree to not go to work tomorrow.”

“But I have to- dohon’t!” Dante had started nibbling at his neck, making laughter pour out of him instantly. “Dante, come ohohon!”

“Stay with me,” Dante mumbled into his skin. “Aaall day.”

“I cahahan’t!”

“Then I’ll never stop.”

It was safe to say that their night wasn’t very calm after that.

* * *

 

“Do you ever write your own poetry?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t think I’d be very good.”

Ari looked at him. “But you’re so good with words.”

“Poetry is different. You have to express yourself properly. I don’t think I could do that.”

“Have you ever tried?”

“A few times,” Dante admitted. “I burned the pages.”

Ari had to snort. “So dramatic.”

“Maybe I should write plays instead.”

“That’d be something.”

“Do you write?”

“Not poetry, but I used to write things in this journal,” Ari said. It was so easy to confess some things to Dante. “I’m not good at keeping things up though, so each time I start I only get a few entries in before I quit.”

“What do you write about?”

“Anything really. Whatever’s on my mind.”

“Have you written about me?”

“Aaand we’re changing topics. I think you should write.”

Dante looked like he had questions, but fortunately he decided to play along. “What should I write about?”

“Anything.”

“That’s broad.”

“Whatever you want.”

“What would _you_ write about, if you wrote poetry?”

Ari shook his head. “I don’t know. Like-” He paused, thinking. “The freedom of running maybe. You could write about how you feel when you swim.”

“That could work.”

“Or how you felt when you were in Chicago. You know, you were in a place you enjoyed, but it was still away from here.”

“Away from home. I like that.”

“Or you could write about sounds or scents or something.”

Dante grinned. “The sound of your laughter when I hit a particularly ticklish spot.”

Ari blushed. “Yes, exactly.”

“I think I would need a little reminder before I sit down and write it, though.”

“Dante, no.”

“Why not?”

“Because- no!”

“That just now was a squeal,” Dante said as he wrestled Ari down on the bed. “I’m pretty sure we can find more types. Be still, Ari, you’re making this harder.”

One of Dante’s hands was on his ribs, the other attempting to hold Ari’s wrists, and Ari knew he wouldn’t be able to stop laughing even if he wanted to. All the while Dante kept pointing out all the sounds he was emitting and giving them names, which only made him laugh harder due to embarrassment.

He got his well deserved revenge once Dante backed off.

* * *

 

The bed felt too big. That was the first thought to cross Ari’s mind as he woke up to a pitch black room. He reached out blindly and when his hand only found an empty space he sat up, wide awake and confused. Dante only left the bed after he’d had a nightmare.

The light from the kitchen was visible even from the stairs, and when Ari entered the room he found Dante sitting at the table with a plate of cookies in front of him. He looked up when Ari approached, but neither of them said anything. Ari just sat down beside him and accepted the cookie Dante offered him. They could hear a dog barking in the distance, but other than that it was dead silent.

“I used to love being awake in the middle of the night,” Ari said after a while, his voice rough with sleep

“How come?”

“The world is so still at night. I felt like I could finally breathe.”

“That makes sense.”

“I had forgotten how good the silence is.”

Dante bumped their shoulders together. “You do like a good silence.”

He knew Dante did too, occasionally. Especially when he was feeling vulnerable and wasn’t entirely sure what could end up spilling out of his mouth. So Ari just leaned into him and took a bite out of his cookie without initiating another conversation. If Dante wanted to talk he would talk.

They spent almost twenty minutes in silence, and once the plate was empty they slowly made their way back to bed. Ari woke up with Dante curled up at his side.

* * *

 

Dante had a habit of always nuzzling his face into Ari’s neck, and while Ari secretly loved it, it also tickled like crazy, so whatever they were doing always ended in Ari giggling his head off while Dante looked amused.

But Dante was currently kissing him there, and while it still tickled it was a whole different thing than Dante just nuzzling him. For once Ari didn’t want him to stop.

“I think I heard your parents pulling into the driveway,” Ari said, his voice sounding off even to his own ears.

Dante paused, his lips still on Ari’s skin when he said, “They’ll knock if they want to come in.”

“Are you sure?”

“Positive.”

Ari wasn’t really in a position to protest when Dante went back to exploring his sensitive neck. A giggle escaped his lips when he travelled too close to the area under his chin, and he could feel Dante smile into the skin. Dante’s initial quest had been to give Ari a hickey, but once Ari had realized what he was doing he’d told him to stop.

“Not only will my parents notice,” Ari had said. “but so will yours, and I’m not having that discussion with either of them.”

Dante would never do anything against his will, but he had pouted at Ari’s words. “Can I at least kiss you there?”

“Why?”

“Your reactions are funny. And nice.”

It turned out that Ari loved this even more than Dante did, but he wasn’t going to admit that out loud. He was sure Dante knew anyway.

Ari could hear Dante’s parents unloading the groceries and entering the house, and while his heart was in his throat from the prospect of them barging into the room he was unable to ask Dante to stop. It just felt too good.

“I take it that you missed me today,” he mumbled as Dante peppered his neck with kisses.

“I always miss you when you’re at work. You should quit.”

“That’s not gonna happen.”

“I would tickle you into submission, but I rather like what I’m currently doing.” Dante paused briefly between kisses. “But I can do both simultaneously.”

Ari started laughing as Dante’s hands spidered up his sides. “Dohon’t.”

Dante hummed against his skin. “You love it.”

“I really dohohon’t!”

“Liar.”

“Dante, your parents will hehear us!”

“So? We can laugh, can’t we?”

“Dante, dohoho-”

“Are you boys hungry- oh!”

Ari wasn’t sure if Dante flew off of him himself or if Ari had instinctively thrown him off, but Dante tumbled down beside him as Sam disappeared out of the room again and all but slammed the door behind him. Dante only had time to shout, “Dad!” before he broke into nervous laughter.

“Sorry!” Sam cried from outside. “Forgot to knock! I give you both permission to kill me after dinner.”

Dante just giggled while Ari exhaled loudly. “I’m gonna be sick.”

“Relax,” Dante said. “He’s about to have his second child. I’m pretty sure he’s not one to judge.”

“I _told_ you they would walk in on us.”

Dante silenced him with his lips against his, which was a dirty trick, but Ari didn’t have it in him to protest.

* * *

 

They were in Ari’s truck once again. It had been almost a whole week since the last time they’d gone to the desert, and they had both been aching for the fresh air and star-filled sky. School had started up again and they were suddenly unable to come out here whenever they wanted, so they rushed to the car as soon as Friday evening rolled around. They weren’t going to miss their one opportunity to look at the stars alone.

Legs was of course with them, her head resting on Dante’s thigh and her tail wagging happily as Dante stroked her soft fur. Ari’s head rested against Dante’s shoulder, and Dante jokingly called himself a human pillow.

Ari just grinned. “As if you don’t like it.”

“I’m scared of disturbing you every time I breathe, but otherwise I’m all right.”

Ari pressed his lips to his jaw briefly. “It’s okay. Breathe as much as you want.”

“You’re very kind.”

“I try.”

A breeze swept over them, ruffling Ari’s hair and making him shiver.

Dante glanced at him. “Are you cold?”

“A little.”

“Should I bring out the blanket?”

“And leave us without our human pillow? You stay right where you are.”

Dante grinned and slipped his arm around him. “I guess I’m gonna have to be a human blanket too, huh?”

“At least you’re useful for once.”

“Careful, Ari. My hand is dangerously close to a ticklish spot.”

Ari let out a nervous laugh. “Sometimes I regret the day you made that discovery.”

“Bull.”

“I do.”

“You don’t have to lie to me, you know.”

Ari didn’t reply. He wasn’t sure how Dante could read him so easily, but he didn’t exactly mind it, surprisingly.

Their night didn’t get any more exciting than that, and they were both fine with that.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on [tumblr](http://nhasablog.tumblr.com)


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